Moravské zemské muzeum (English: Moravian Museum) is a museum in Brno in the Czech Republic. It is the second-largest and second-oldest museum in the country. Its collections include several million objects from many fields of science and culture.

Location

The museum's seat is located in Dietrichstein Palace in Zelný trh in the historic centre of Brno. It was built as a residence of Cardinal Franz von Dietrichstein in 1613–1616. It was rebuilt in late Baroque style at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries and become one of the largest Baroque buildings in Brno.

History

The Moravian Museum was founded in July 1817 by a decree of Emperor Francis II. Science figures such as Christian Carl André, Count Josef Auersperg, Count Hugo-František Salm-Reifferscheid, or Antonín Bedřich Mitrovský were involved in the establishment of the museum.

Beethoven score manuscript

Following the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia, the Petschek family, a wealthy Czech Jewish family involved in banking and the mining industry, fled to the US. They attempted to send by post a prized family possession, the original score of the fourth movement of Beethoven's String Quartet No. 13. However, it was intercepted by the Gestapo. The Nazis asked an expert from the Moravian Museum to verify the authenticity of the score. The expert recognized Beethoven's handwriting, but in order to save the manuscript from being looted he lied to the Nazis and said it was not authentic. The Museum was then allowed to keep it. It remained with the Moravian Museum for more than 80 years.

The Nazis seized most of the Petschek family's assets and possessions, which Czechoslovakia's Communist regime nationalized after the war. Franz Petschek, who had run the family's mining businesses in Czechoslovakia, tried from his new home in the US to get the piece back but got scant sympathy from the Communist government.

Exhibitions

thumb|Old Jevišovice Castle

thumb|120px|[[Venus of Dolní Věstonice, the most famous exhibit of the museum]]

The museum has several exhibition spaces in Brno:

  • Dietrichstein Palace
  • Bishop's Courtyard
  • Mendelianum
  • Palace of Noble Ladies
  • Anthropos Pavilion (created by Karel Absolon)
  • Mushroom Gatherers' Consultation Place
  • Leoš Janáček Memorial
  • Jiří Gruša House

The museum also owns and manages several monuments outside Brno: